THE GILLETT FAMILY IN AMERICA
Written by Isabel Tincher daughter of George and Ruth Gillett
This page was reviewed 13 April 2009
Dr. John Gillett emigrated from Hull England and set up practice in a hotel in Sparta Michigan. The hotel was the only building in town large enough for his family of six children and also his Medical practice. His wife, Anne Lightburn a Scottish lass, was his chemist (Pharmacist). After the home was established, Anne brought the children over from England. George at age three was ill with bone TB. George always maintained that, while Ruth's family had come over on the Mayflower, he was smart enough to wait for a better boat. One of his ancestors had been designated as 'Hatter to the King', which may account for some of the strange tendencies in the family. 'Mad as a Hatter' was a term alluding to the use of arsenic in making felt hats [my research later showed that one of the Gillett's had a shop on King Edward Street in Hull". The Buckingham Palace archivist could not find any Gillett's on the list of suppliers to the Palace - Sheila Weston]
George assisted his physician father, driving the horse and buggy to make house calls, but declined going to Medical School. He attended Univ. of Michigan at Ann Arbor, working in a business office. He then decided to be a School Teacher, and took a contract in Atoka Ohkahloma, which provided a one room cabin and a horse and 20 dollars a month, he stopped of in Hanna City to visit his brother Dr. Arthur Gillett where he met Ruth Couch. The couple fell in love and wrote many letters between Illinois and Okalahoma. George was in Michigan packing for his teaching job, when it was decided they would both travel South and meet at her sister, Clara Green's home in Missouri, where they married.
By coincidence, they happened to get on the same train before getting to Missouri. Clara was properly horrified when they got off the train together, and she announced that they had to be married before the sun went down. After trying and failing to get a Methodist or a Baptist pastor, she found a Presbyterian who agreed to do the job. After the festivities the happy couple proceeded to their tiny cabin on the Choctaw Reservation. They came back to Illinois for the birth of there first child, Isabel, then returning to a very primitive life style. George had a fine string of rattle snake skins from snakes he shot while riding his horse to School. When Ruth found a tarantula in the baby's bed ( a wash basket ) and had enough of the men spitting tobacco juice through the cracks in the kitchen floor she announced they were going back to Illinois. So they did.
George and Ruth's oldest child, Isabel, was born in the same bed that Ruth was born in on the Couch farm. She was born on Oct. 5th 1918, which was false Armistice day from World War 1. Ruth's brother Frank, who had returned from the A E F in France, stood out in the road, stopping people in their buggies and wagons. He insisted they must come in and see the 'Prettiest little girl in the world'. So Ruth tired and weak, was hosting a steady stream of visitors. The little family returned to Oklahoma until the occurrence three years later of a nasty bug, the tarantula in Isabel's baby bed.
George then bought into the farm located in Hanna City ILL, and became horticulturist and bee keeper along with farming. The model T Ford drove the streets of Hanna City selling Peaches, Berries, Honey, home made butter and cottage cheese as well as the usual milk and cream. As the depression became deeper, banks closed, prices went down, so George went to work as a machinist at Caterpillar Tractor Co. The second farm they had bought at Smithville was lost. The home farm that was mortgaged to buy the second, was barely held. The lady who held the mortgage accepted a fat pullet each week as a part payment. George came home one day to say he had been laid off. His good friend Tom a bridge-playing partner, had gone to management to say that George shouldn't hold down a job while he had a living on the farm. Being the kind of person he was, there was never a word of blame or criticism. The whole family worked harder. Cousin Roberta's box's of clothing had to make do, though Roberta was several sizes too large, Isabel's younger brother often wore Roberta's shirts and pyjamas, unfortunately, although Ruth could knit, crochet, and tat, she definitely didn't sew, so they were worn as is, but warm, well fed, and loved. George eventually was called back to work at Caterpillar as a sweeper, which he cheerfully said was to clean up the Caterpillar fuzz.
After retiring George and Ruth bought a farm between Bonduel and Shawano and moved to Wisconsin to be near their family. A few years later they moved into Shawano, first in their own house, then into an apartment, and then into Parkside Apartments. Ruth died at the Evergreen Nursing home at age 90. George moved to Florida with John and Isabel. He died at age 98, having spent his last year in the nursing home.
Written by Isabel Tincher daughter of George and Ruth Gillett
April 1, 2001